The present invention relates to a locking arrangement for securing a pivoting and sliding cover to a counter-structure of a vehicle body, in particular for folding hoods of convertibles, comprising a catch fastening on the counter structure configured to interact with the fastening pin in a locking operation, and a notch on the counter-structure to constitute an intrusion guide for intrusion of the fastening pin into the catch fastening. An auxiliary mechanism provides axial advancement of the fastening pin in the notch and causes transverse advancement of the cover, the auxiliary mechanism comprising respective elements on the cover and the counter-structure.
A known type of locking arrangement is described, for example, in DE-C1 39 24 295. There the cover is a roof cap which forms the front end-closure of the folding hood and can be locked in a rest setting on a front roof frame of the body of the convertible. The known folding hood is provided with an electrohydraulic hood drive, by which the hood is actuated automatically by push-button. In closing the hood, the roof cap is moved forward on a circular circuit until the two fastening pins protruding from its bottom side, having previously been guided by centering pods in the roof frame, latch-lock into associated hood fastenings of the roof frame. Because the roof cap, directly prior to its fastening pins being mounted on the roof frame, is guided in a pivoting and sliding fashion on a curved segment of track deviating only slightly from the horizontal, the axial forces acting, via the hood drive, upon the fastening pins are limited. In order to ensure when closing the folding hood, even under unfavorable conditions, that the fastening pins latch-lock into their associated fastening, there is provided centrally between the lateral fastenings a central pull-tight mechanism, by whose tightening force the roof cap is pressed down onto the roof frame. By virtue of the therewith associated transverse advancement of the roof cap, the fastening pins are also forced into their fastening.
This pull-tight mechanism based on the draw key principle is technically relatively complex and adds fairly considerable cost to the locking arrangement of the roof cap. Moreover, for the draw key arrangement plus drive system, considerable installation space is required in the hollow cross-section of the roof frame. This installation space is not available, at least to the necessary extent, in every roof frame belonging to a convertible.
An object of the present invention is to further improve a locking arrangement such that, while maintaining a pull-tight effect, the locking arrangement can be more cheaply constructed and arranged in a more space-saving manner.
This object has been achieved according to the present invention by providing that the elements interact during closing of the cover and are deflection apparatus butting against each other, by virtue of which a sliding advancement of the cover is maintained after the deflection apparatus are run up against and is partially converted into the transverse advancement of the cover accompanying the axial advancement of the fastening pin.
By virtue of the interacting deflection apparatus, the sliding force at the roof cap acts almost exclusively tangentially to the track curve of the front edge of the roof cap and is partially converted into a vertical force component. The mutual coordination of the deflection apparatus must herein be conducted such that the fastening pin latch-locks reliably into the catch fastening. There is therefore no need for the auxiliary mechanism to have a dedicated drive.
The locking arrangement according to the present invention is especially suitable for motor-operated folding hoods, pivoting and sliding tops or the like in which, by virtue of the auxiliary force, a sufficient closing force is freely available. It would also however be conceivable, in principle, to move the cover manually with a push.
A structurally particularly simple deflection of the closing force can be guaranteed by a wedge guide which is linked to a relative motion of the interacting deflection apparatus. If a particularly robust construction is sought, then one of the deflection apparatus comprises a projecting stop, the rounded stop face of which is slide-guided on a wedge slope of the corresponding deflection apparatus.
To prevent any friction noises arising between the stop face and the wedge slope in the course of the relative motion, the stop face can be formed by the rolling periphery of a roller element. In order to achieve a more pronounced deflection of the closing force, in a final intrusion-motion phase of the fastening pin prior to the latching operation of the catch fastening, a first longitudinal segment of the wedge slope having a flat wedge angle can be adjoined by a longitudinal segment having a steeper wedge angle.
As an alternative to the wedge guide, a pendulum guide can be provided on a circular circuit which is inclined in accordance with the wedge slope. By the rolling of a rounded end of a guide lever on a stop face of the corresponding deflection apparatus, relative displacements between the interacting deflection apparatus can be prevented, so that here also, no friction noises arise. For spatial and cost reasons, it is particularly advantageous to dispose the deflection apparatus at the site of a notch and an associated fastening pin.
If a plurality of locking points for the securement of the cover are provided, then each locking point is expediently allocated a deflection pairing. The deflection apparatus supported by the fastening pin is preferably configured in one piece with the fastening pin, and the deflection apparatus is able to be formed onto the leading leg of the fastening pin.
Where a wedge slope is arranged on the fastening pin, this wedge slope can be produced by tilting the fastening pin legs extending in the longitudinal direction of the fastening pin. The leading longitudinal side of a fastening pin leg can thereby form the wedge slope, without the leg having to be provided with formed-on elements.